Geographic Bee Finalists Named

National Geographic News

May 22, 2001

Ten students won through to the final round of the 2001 National
Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, emerging as the brightest
young geography brains from a group of 55 U.S. state and territory bee
champions.

The finalists will gather at National Geographic headquarters for the final round Wednesday in a televised contest moderated by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. The national champion of the 2001 National Geographic Bee will be presented with a U.S. $25,000 college scholarship. The first runner-up will win a scholarship for $15,000 and the second runner-up will collect $10,000.

The ten finalists are:

Arizona: Paul Ruffner

Arkansas: Kyle Macfarlan

California: Fedor Manin

Georgia: Robert McRae

Hawaii: Nick Jachowski

Louisiana: Hank Legan

Nevada: Jim Hoffman

New York: Michael Oh

Texas: Jason Ferguson

Washington state: Kyle Haddad-Fonda

The 55 semifinalists were the winners of their state geographic bees, having triumphed over a field of nearly 5 million students to earn a place in the national championships. They represented all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Pacific Territories, and Department of Defense Dependents Schools.

The championship round will air nationally on the new National Geographic Channel later tomorrow. Produced by Maryland Public Television, the finals will also be broadcast later on public television stations.

First USA is the corporate sponsor of the 2001 National Geographic Bee.